Hydrotherapy is a means of therapeutic exercise and rehabilitation in water. An aquatic environment provides a supportive medium in which to move joints and muscles and build exercise tolerance and stamina whilst making exercises fun!. Hydrotherapy can also reduce muscle spasm and spasticity (high muscle tone), improve balance and co-ordination, and strengthen weak muscles. The water is used to assist and facilitate movement but the difficulty of the exercise can also be increased by using the turbulence of the water by moving quicker through it or adding resistance from floats or other buoyant devices. For children who have difficulties with walking or maintaining an upright posture, hydrotherapy helps to support their bodies, which enables them to move in the water in ways that they are no longer able to do on dry land, promoting independence. They can also be taught to hold themselves in functional positions that they would ordinarily struggle with day-to-day. For individuals with complex injuries and / or neurological conditions where mobility is significantly impaired, hydrotherapy can be an excellent environment in which to begin rehabilitation. Hydrotherapy also works well in conjunction with land-based therapy by using the different approaches to complement one another to gain as much function as possible. I am very keen to be see the dry land programme for children accessing Sharks Hydrotherapy so that I can ensure they complement one another. With children Hydrotherapy offers much needed variety to rehabilitation, making physiotherapy intervention more interesting and stimulating. Hydrotherapy can also provide a stimulating sensory environment for children who require sensory integration as part of their rehabilitation process. It improves a child’s confidence, both in terms of water confidence and also in their movement abilities, as they move in a supported environment without fear of falling, and perform activities in the water they may not previously have managed to achieve on dry land. This is highly beneficial to the emotional and psychological status of a child with physical or sensory difficulties. Parents and carers are also welcome to join their child in the water (subject to screening for contraindications), and become actively involved with their child's rehabilitation, learning skills for handling their child in the water which they can then use for independent swimming sessions.
